Another Secret
by Synxailla
Summary: She tried on a smile. It didn't feel right on her face. She let it drop... Maybe this was why Kaldur stopped smiling. Because it never feels right anymore.


A/N: This ficlet happened after "Before the Dawn" in my head.

Because I ship Kaldur/Artemis

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Soon though, very soon.

"Another Secret"

A Story by Synxailla

Kaldur was waking up…

His brow furrowed and his voice sounded out in a small _pained _groan.

Artemis immediately shot forward on her seat beside his bunk and pressed a gentle hand on his forehead.

"Shh Kaldur, it's okay."

Eyelids slowly blinked open to reveal dilated silver eyes. Artemis held her breath until the pupils returned to normal. She only let a small weak smile cross her face when those eyes landed on her with recognition.

"Artemis."

She almost wanted to scold him. _We agreed I'll be Tigress for the duration of this mission. Undercover, remember?_ But she couldn't bring herself to. Kaldur was finally awake. After days of being worried whether M'gann's attack made any lasting damage to his mind, Artemis finally found her first breather.

Besides, there were no others but them in this part of the new ship. All the others were busy with running errands for the partners of the Light's newest steer in the plans. So she figured they'd be safe with him calling her name.

"Yeah it's me." She answered. "Are… are you okay?"

Kaldur looked…uncertain. He started getting up. Artemis tried pushing him back to lie down. He persisted. She sighed. They made and unspoken compromise and soon Kaldur was propped onto a sitting position by pillows.

A second passed in silence. And then twenty.

"So…" Artermis began again. Maybe she was being too hopeful. Maybe M'gann _did_ manage to hurt Kaldur's mind badly. She had hoped, for the sake of her Martian friend as much as Kaldur's that no heavy damage was done between them.

She now knew how hard it was to hurt your friends, and be hurt by them. She couldn't imagine how Kaldur managed to do it so flawlessly.

"I am fine." Kaldur answered, finally, startling Artemis from her thoughts.

"That's good!" She said, too fast, too unlike her.

She was really hating how unlike herself she's been lately…

She decided to ask the question that's been eating away at her since that time at Mariana's Trench. "Uhm, so did Megan…?"

"She saw." He answered with a straight face. "Everything."

Artemis gave a look as blank as his…

She didn't know what to feel now. Bad, because the secret's out? Guilty, for keeping it in the first place? Relieved, because the burden wasn't theirs alone now?

"Then I guess Megan will give Nightwing hell. She won't like us keeping secrets from each other… We almost broke down as a team from all those secret-keeping when we were kids."

She tried on a smile. It didn't feel right on her face. She let it drop.

Maybe this was why Kaldur stopped smiling. Because it never feels right anymore.

Kaldur didn't say anything. Just looked at her. She felt the need to continue talking.

"And Megan will tell Conner and then they'll both round up on Dick. And then Dick will ask help from Wally, but that won't do any good because Wally could never win against Megan. Wally could never…"

Her voice left her… God, she missed him.

She was never happier Wally wasn't in the hero business anymore. Because if he was, she would have to hurt him… And hurting the others was bad enough.

If she was made to hurt Wally, she won't be able to take it.

"M'gann saw all my thoughts." Kaldur began again, distracting Artemis from her thoughts of Wally. Silver eyes locked on hers. "All my secrets."

"Yeah. Maybe Nightwing will be able to talk her into working with us, and keeping the secret, you know?" She said with a shrug. "He was good enough to convince me. And good enough to convince Wally to let me do this."

"I was not aware you required his approval."

Okay, that was a startling statement.

"I don't." She found herself answering defensively. "It's just, well, we can't just do things without running them by each other because we're—"

"In love." Kaldur finished.

The pressure under the sea must really be starting to mess with Artemis's hearing. For a second there she could've sworn Kaldur sounded… bitter.

She wanted to answer yes, but before she could, Kaldur spoke again.

"M'gann saw everything. All my secrets."

"I know Kaldur, but we can't worry about it while we're here… Dick's in charge of handling things on _that_ side. So don't worry about the mission being compromised."

"That's not the secret I'm worried about."

Artemis's brow furrowed, confused.

"Then what is it?"

Suddenly, she was tugged forward and her lips met Kaldur's.

She was stunned.

"This." Kaldur said, releasing his hold on her wrist and shoulder.

He said nothing more. Just continued to look at her with pain.

As soon as her brain began working again, she stood up and left the room… She didn't know how to handle this right now.

Or ever, for that matter.

-end


End file.
